Mumbai, January 29: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it would shift the Kalbadevi Metro III station 20 metres away from the boundary wall of the Fire Temple - Wadia Atash Behram. The statement by the MMRCL is a partial relief for the Parsi community living in the city.

The new development is a saviour to the Atash Behram, which is situated at the Princess Street junction in South Mumbai. The Fire Temple is one of the eight in India and was consecrated in 1830. Kendriya Vidyalaya Morning Prayer Row: Supreme Court Mulls Setting Up Constitution Bench to Examine Mandatory Recitation of Sanskrit 'Shlokas' in KVs. 

In the statement filed by the MMRCL in Supreme Court, it said, as reported by TOI, "Taking into consideration the non-availability of some of the private land pockets, the excavation box A of Kalbadevi station has been shortened by approximately 22 metres. As a result, the box is now 19.8 metres away from the nearest boundary of the Wadia Atash Behram from the earlier distance of 2.2 metres overlap and temporary secant pile is now 18.3 metres away from the nearest boundary of Wadis Atash Behram."

Adding more, the affidavit said, "This has resulted in changes in further internal planning the space. The NATM part and platform locations have been modified accordingly by shifting them northwards suitably. The back of the house facilities earlier proposed in Box A are now accommodated at lower/platform level and will have to be built as per NATM works."

Earlier in 2018, some community members under the guidance of structural engineer Jamshed Sukhadwalla dragged the MMRCL to court, opposing the plan of digging a tunnel underneath the temple. Hearing the petition, the court had then permitted the MRA to take the tunnel up to 3.5 metres inside the premises and take precautionary measures to ensure the structure would not be disturbed. It was then re-challenged in the upper court.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2019 09:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).